1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scanning optical device that scans a photoreceptor with laser light and relates to an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
An image forming apparatus is known which scans an external peripheral surface of a charged photoreceptor with laser light to form an electrostatic latent image on the external peripheral surface and then develops the electrostatic latent image with a developer to form a toner image on the photoreceptor. In such an image forming apparatus, a partition wall is provided between the photoreceptor and a scanning optical device that scans the photoreceptor with laser light, in order to prevent contamination of the scanning optical device due to toner adhering to the photoreceptor. Providing a partition wall increases the distance between the photoreceptor and the scanning optical device, resulting in an increase in the size of the image forming apparatus. To address this circumstance, an image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 6 has a scanning optical device partially projecting through a partition wall 103 toward a photoreceptor 102, thus reducing the space for disposing the photoreceptor 102 and the scanning optical device (e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-15935).
In the image forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-15935, however, a light outputting section 101 that radiates laser light onto the photoreceptor 102 projects through the partition wall 103 toward the photoreceptor 102. Thus, particles such as toner scattering from the photoreceptor 102 may adhere to and cause contamination of the light outputting section 101, preventing radiation of the laser light and resulting in a defective image.